Topic: A study on the relationship between the sugar intake and the weight change in mice and its

implication on human

Research question: How do different kinds of sugar (white sugar, brown sugar, motosada sugar and honey) affect the weight gain of the laboratory mice and its implication on human obesity

Shanghai World Foreign Language Middle School Kefei Wu 002635-067 Word count: 3873

Acknowledgement:
First, I would like to thank Rennie Patterson, Julie Fu and Joy Yang for their support and guidance during my lab. Second, I would also like to thank Mr. Wu for allowing me use the Biology laboratory and assisting me setting up the lab.

Adherence to IB animal experimentation policy:

This experiment involves animals, i.e. Swiss lab mice. In the IB policy stated that: Any experimentation should not result in any pain or undue stress on any animal (vertebrate or invertebrate) or compromise its health in any way. My experiment did not cause any undue stress or compromise health. This experiment was conducted under strict supervision at all times and did not involve any drugs or medicines or dietary components that altered the health of the mice in any way. There was no death of mice during the lab, and all the mice in the experiment were taken good care after the end of the experiment.

Abstract:
For the past few years, obesity has became one of the growing problems in China, especially in some well-developed cities such as Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. Many claim that the main culprit for the cause of obesity is sugar. Therefore, this summer I conducted an experiment to investigate the relationship between the daily sugar intake and the weight gain of the laboratory mice, in order to either prove or disprove the statement above. The research question for this experiment was thus formulated into: How do different kinds of sugar (white sugar, brown sugar, motosada sugar and honey) effect the weight gain of the laboratory mice.

The lab was conducted on 30 laboratory mice, 15 female and 15 male divided into 5 groups. All the mice were given 0.45g of different kinds of sugars dissolved in 3 ml water and provided with same amount of food every day. The temperature for the mice was controlled between 18 and 23 degree. The entire experiment lasted for 40 days, and the mice were weighed every 4 days.

The data was collected and processed to show the efficacy of different kinds of sugar. The trend lines of each group were added into graphs to indicate how sugar has effected the weight of the mice during the entire lab and possible influence after the lab. The weight difference of the mice between the beginning and the end of the lab was calculated to show how effective the sugar is on the weight change.

The result of the experiment showed that all kinds of sugar has different efficacy on weight gaining of the mice, and the efficacy for sugar ranking from high to low: white sugar, brown sugar, motosada sugar and honey.

Word count: 287 words

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Research Question..................................................................................................................5 1.2 Background.............................................................................................................................5 1.3 Theoretical Basis....................................................................................................................6

Chapter 2: Methodology
2.1 Objective of study and hypothesis.........................................................................................7 2.2 Variables.................................................................................................................................7 2.3 Apparatus................................................................................................................................8 2.4 Procedure................................................................................................................................9

Chapter 3: Data collection, process and interpretation

3.1 The Efficacy of different kinds of sugars...........................................................................11 3.2 The efficacy of sugars between male and female mice......................................................13

Chapter 4: Conclusion and evaluation

4.1 Conclusion..........................................................................................................................21 4.2 Evaluation...........................................................................................................................21

Chapter 5: Discussion
5.1 Application on human:.......................................................................................................29 5.2 The difference between male and female...........................................................................29

Bibliography...............................................................................................................................31 Appendix.....................................................................................................................................32

Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Research question:
How do different kinds of sugar (white sugar, brown sugar, motosada sugar and honey) affect the weight gain of the laboratory mice and its implication on human obesity

1.2 Background:
What is sugar? The FDA definition of sugar refers to a kind of sucrose, which is obtained from sugar cane or sugar beets 1 Nowadays sugar plays an important role in our daily life. From a tin of Coke to a piece of pie, sugar is everywhere. However there are problems associated with the ever growing daily consumption of sugar in China; Obesity is one of the major problems: The prevalence of obesity among children has increased remarkably over the past two decades. The worldwide obesity rate has more than quadrupled from 0.2% in 1982 to 0.9% in 2002 2. Many claimed that one of the main culprits for obesity is sugar. An influx of sugar into the bloodstream could upset the body's blood-sugar balance, triggering the release of insulin, which the body uses to keep blood-sugar at a constant and safe level. Insulin also promotes the storage of fat, so that when people intake sugar, the body is making way for rapid weight gaining and elevated triglyceride levels, both of which may link to other diseases. 3 However there are still doubts and debates on the relationship between sugar intake and weight gain or whether sugar can cause obesity, therefore during this summer, I conducted an experiment on laboratory mice in order to find out whether the sugar intake can truly affect the weight gain.

CFR - Code of Federal Regulations Title 21, part 101, subpart A, sec.101.4 Food; designation of ingredients, clause 20
2

Biomed Environ Sci, 2012; 25(2):125-132 Report on Childhood Obesity in China (9): Sugar-sweetened Beverages Consumption and Obesity
3

http://www.healingdaily.com/detoxification-diet/sugar.htm Sugars effect on your health (Last opened: Feb.25th, 2013)

1.3 Theoretical basis:

Before the experiment, I researched some most common sugar that used in daily life of a Chinese. The result of the pre-lab investigation was as below: White sugar: White sugar, the most common artificial sweetener made from sugar cane and sugar beet is most customarily used as food. It is a form of sucrose, therefore a disaccharide. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, 100 gram of sugar contains 387 calories 4. Brown sugar: Brown sugar is either an unrefined or partially refined soft sugar consisting of sugar crystals with some residual molasses content, or it is produced by the addition of molasses to refined white sugar, it is also a disaccharide.5 It has a slightly lower caloric value by mass than white sugar due to the presence of water. One hundred grams of brown sugar contains 380 calories 6, which is around 18 calories per teaspoon. Motosada sugar: It is a kind of artificial sweetener specially designed for diabetes patients. It is made from the extract of stevia, aspartame and Mangosteen, etc.7 The sweetness of motosada sugar is 10 times higher than the normal sugar, while at the same time its calorie was only 8% of the normal sugar, around 30 calories per hundred grams. Honey: Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers and gets its sweetness from the monosaccharides fructose and glucose, and has approximately the same relative sweetness as

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/sweets/5592/2 Self Nutrition Data, Sugars, granulated sucrose (Last opened: Feb.25th, 2013)
5 6 7

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_sugar Brown Sugar (Last opened: Feb.25th, 2013) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_sugar#cite_note-newsci-1 Brown Sugar (Last opened: Feb.25th, 2013)

http://en.uuuwell.com/thread-50283-1-1.html summary of several diabetes can eat sugar (Last opened: Feb.25th, 2013)

that of granulated sugar. 8 One hundred gram of honey can have a 304 calories 9, which is 80% of the white granulated sugar and brown sugar. At the same time it is also believed that honey is one of the sweeteners that could actually help preventing obesity, since it contains 22 amino acids and a variety of minerals essential for bodys metabolism results in losing weight.10

Chapter 2: Methodology
2.1 Objective of study and hypothesis:
In order to produce an effective results, one objective must be met: The efficacy of different sugars and their effects on the weight of laboratory mice. Hypothesis I: the weight of laboratory mice will show an increasing trend. Hypothesis II: different kinds of sugar will have different efficacy on the weight of the mice, the efficacy from the most to the least will be: White sugar, brown sugar, honey and motosada sugar. Hypothesis III: the efficacy will be different between male and female; the female mice will be affected more than the the male mice.

2.2 Variables: Independent Variables:

Type of sugar
Control method: Use the sugar that are commonly used in daily life for Chinese: white sugar, brown sugar, honey and motosada sugar.

Dependent Variables:
Weight of the laboratory mice

8 9

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey Honey (Last opened: Feb.25th, 2013) http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/sweets/5568/2 Self Nutrition Data, Honey (Last opened: Feb.25th, 2013) http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/honey-and-weight-loss.html Honey and Sugar (Last opened: Feb.25th, 2013)

10

Control Method: the weight of the mice was measured every 4 days.

Controlled Variables:
1. Food intake: Control Method: each laboratory mouse has a strict diet during the entire lab, i.e. 5 grams of corn, 5 grams of oat, 5 grams of millet and 2 peanuts per day. 2. Sugar intake: Control Method: the sugar will be ingested through water, i.e. 8 ml water per day with 15% sugar dissolved in it. The water intakes of a laboratory mice ranged from 5.7 0.2 ml/30 g body weight to 11.4 0.5 ml/30 g body weight with the overall strain mean being 7.7 0.3 ml/30 g body weight.11 3. Temperature of the laboratory room: Control method: the optimum temperature for laboratory mice is around 18-23C, therefore it is crucial to maintain the temperature around18-23C by air conditioning.12 4. Light intensity: Control Method: The experiment was conducted in Summer (from 2nd, July. to 20th, August) therefore the average daylight received was from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., a total of 12 hours everyday.

2.3 Apparatus: Lab apparatus:

11 Alexander A.

One electronic scale

Five graduated cylinders Ten Beakers (both 50ml and 500ml beaker) One stirring rod

Bachmanov, Gary K. Beauchamp, Danielle R. Reed, Michael G. Tordoff Food Intake, Water Intake, and Drinking Spout Side Preference of 28 Mouse Strains, Published by March 10. 2006
12

The Jackson laboratory, Mouse room condition http://jaxmice.jax.org/support/husbandry/room-conditions.html (Last opened: Feb.25th, 2013)

One funnel One pair of gloves One pair of forceps

Others:
New package of sugar (white sugar, brown sugar, motosada sugar and honey) Cages with graduated drinking dispensers Wood shavings (minimize the odor) 30 adult (at least 4 weeks of age13) laboratory mice

2.4 Procedure14:
Pre-lab: Day 1~5: 1. 2. 3. After arrival, the mice were acclimated to cages for at least 6 days; Mice were labeled and checked for identification everyday; The total number of the adult laboratory mice required in this lab is 30, 15 female and 15 male. All the mice will be weighted and divided into 5 groups: the control group (water) and the experimental groups including white sugar, brown sugar, motosada sugar and honey. Each group consists of 3 female and 3 male laboratory mice.

Lab: Day 1: 1. 2. Wear gloves and lab coat before entering the laboratory; Weigh the mice on the electronic scale by using forceps to put the mice into the 500ml beaker (ensure that the mice do not escape or move around) and place the beaker on the electronic scale, wait until the mice calm down and note down the weight shown on the scale;

13

http://www.informatics.jax.org/mgihome/other/mouse_facts1.shtml The mouse fact (last opened, Feb. 28.2013)

14 Alexander A.

Bachmanov, Gary K. Beauchamp, Danielle R. Reed, Michael G. Tordoff Food Intake, Water Intake, and Drinking Spout Side Preference of 28 Mouse Strains, Published by March 10. 2006

3.

Prepare the food for the laboratory mice. Food is determined to the nearest 0.1g. It is important to provide all the mice with the same amount of food in order to minimize the errors in the process of weighing the mice;

4.

Prepare water and sugar for the mice. Dissolve 4.5g sugar of each kind in 30ml water in order to make the solution with 15% concentration of sugar;

5.

Change the wood shaving by scattering the wood shaving on the base of the cage with a thickness around 1cm.

Day 2~Day 40: 1. 2. 3. Repeat the procedure 2 and 3 in Day 1 everyday; Weigh the mice once every four days; Change the wood shaving once every four days;

Chapter 3 Data collection, processing and interpretation

In this part, I will process the data collected during the lab from two aspects: the efficacy of different kinds of sugars the efficacy of sugars between male and female mice.

3.1 The Efficacy of different kinds of sugars

Hypothesis 1: The weights of the mice in the sugar groups will show an increasing trend. Hypothesis 2: Different kinds of sugars will have different efficacy, and the ranking of the efficacy for sugars from high to low will be: white sugar, brown sugar, honey and motosada sugar.
Average weight (g0.05g) Control group White sugar Brown sugar Motosada sugar Day 1 Day 4 Day 8 Day 12 Day 16 Day 20 Day 24 Day 28 Day 32 Day 36 Day 40 30.93 29.92 29.77 30.17 32.88 31.52 32.57 33.10 33.98 33.68 32.88 25.80 26.12 25.18 25.78 27.55 27.38 28.55 30.25 33.15 31.28 32.28 25.42 24.63 24.80 24.87 26.87 27.13 27.90 29.27 32.25 28.94 30.17 28.77 25.57 28.32 29.05 29.62 30.02 30.65 30.97 31.43 31.28 31.17 Honey 28.00 25.93 25.85 26.30 27.02 26.93 27.73 28.28 29.82 28.40 28.32

Table 1 Average weight of each group of mice

40

The weight of mice(g0.05g)

35

30

25

20

12

16

20

24

28

32

36

40

Time (Day0.5s Control Group White sugar Brown sugar Motosada sugar Honey

Figure 1 The weight of the mice during the investigation The above graph (Figure 1) shows how the weights of the mice changed during the entire lab. According to the table and the graph above, the influence of the sugars intake is very obvious: At the beginning of the entire lab, there was a huge drop on the average body weight of the mice in the sugar groups starting from Day 1 to Day 4. Possible reason for this phenomenon is that the mice were still adjusting to the new diet, especially the daily high sugar intake. But from Day 4 to Day 32, there was a significant rise in the body weight of the laboratory mice and each kind of sugar has a different influence on the weight gain. The control groups body weight increased steadily. The most significant increase occurred in both the white sugar and brown sugar groups, and the body weight reached a peak on day 32. Despite the

significant increase in the body weights in the white sugar and brown sugar groups, the motosada sugar and honey groups did not have huge changes in the average body weight. After the initial drop in body weight, the honey group took 24 days to return to the weight level before the lab. While the motosada sugar group return to the weight level before the lab within 4 days, however it was increasing slowly, with approximately 0.5 g every 4 days and it fell after it reached its peak on Day 32. Unexpectedly, from Day 32 to Day36, there were huge drops in the average body weight in white sugar, brown sugar and honey groups, and there were slightly decreases happened in control and motosada sugar groups. However in order to investigate how sugar actually change the weight of the mice, a clearer table on the change of the weights of mice between their initial weights and the weights at the end of the experiment is shown as the table below: Water (control) 30.93 32.88 +1.95 White sugar 25.80 31.90 +6.10 Brown Sugar 25.42 28.87 +4.45 Motosada sugar 28.77 31.17 +2.40

Time Day 1(g0.05g) Day 40 (g0.05g) Day 1~Day 40 (g0.05g)

Honey 28.00 28.32 +0.32

Table 2 The change of the weights of mice between their initial weights and the weights at the end of the experiment

7.00 The weight change of the mice (g0.05g)

5.25

3.50

1.75

-1.75

-3.50

12

16

20

24

28

32

36

40

Time (Day0.5s
control group White sugat Brown sugar Motosada sugar Honey

Figure 2 Weight fluctuation of the mice during the lab

When we compare all the sugars with the control group, we will get the trend lines as below:

7.00

the weight change of the mice (g0.05g)

5.25

3.50

1.75

-1.75

12

16

20

24

28

32

36

40

Time (Day0.5s
control group Poly.(control group) White sugar Poly.(White sugar)

Figure 3 The trend of the weight change of the mice between control and white sugar group

the weight change of the mice(g0.05g)

-2

12

16

20

24

28

32

36

40

Time (Day0.5s
Control group Poly.(Control group) Brown sugar Poly.(Brown sugar)

Figure 4 The trend of the weight change of the mice between control group and brown sugar group

4 3 2 1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4

the weight change of the mice(g0.05g)

12

16

20

24

28

32

36

40

Time (Day0.5s
control group Poly.(control group) Motosada sugar Poly.(Motosada sugar)

Figure 5 The trend of the weight change of the mice between control group and motosada sugar

the weight change of the mice(g0.05g)

-1

-2

-3

12

16

20

24

28

32

36

40

Time (Day0.5s
control group Poly.(control group) Honey Poly.(Honey)

Figure 6 The trend of the weight change of the mice between control group and honey group

By looking at the trend line, a clear pattern on weight change can be seen. The white sugar and brown sugar showed dramatically increasing trends of the mice body weight; the motosada sugar group didnt have a huge effect on the weight change, in fact the trend line of the control group and motosada group overlapped during the second half of the lab; the honey group on the other hand has a negative effect on weight change, since the change in the honey group is less significant than the control group.

Water(control) Percentage increase Rate of increasing 6.30% 0.05

White sugar 23.6% 0.15

Brown Sugar 17.5% 0.11

Motosada Sugar 8.34% 0.06

Honey 1.14% 0.01

Table 2 The percentage increase and the rate of increasing

From above, we can see the groups with white sugar and brown sugar resulted in significant rises in the body weight. The figures of percentage increase shown in the table are 23.64% for white sugar and 17.51% for brown sugar, both around 4 times and 3 time greater than the control group. The greatest increase of both groups happened on day 32, where the average weight of the white sugar reached 33.15g, i.e. 7.35g more than the initial weight. While the brown sugar group also reached 32.25g which was around 6.83g greater than the initial weight. With increasing of weight by this much, these data are solid proofs to show that with a high concentration of sugar intake everyday will lead to increase in weight. Unlike the rapid increase in both the white sugar and brown sugar groups, the motosada sugar groups average weight increased in a steady pace. At the end of the experiment, the average weight of the motosada sugar group increased by 2.40g, i.e. 8.34%, which is around 1.3 times than the control group. But compared to the white sugar and the brown sugar groups, the increase in body weight of motosada sugar group is only around one third of the white sugar groups and half of the brown sugar groups. Therefore, motosada sugar can cause an increase in the body weight of the laboratory mice, but its effect is quite insignificant compare to the effects of white and brown sugar. When we look at the honey group, we will be very surprised to find out that during the first two-thirds of the entire experiment, the average weight of the honey group was actually lower than its average weight when the lab initially started. At the end of the experiment, the average weight of honey group only exceeded the initial weight by 0.32g, which is only 1.14%.

Compare to the control group, the increase in the average weight for honey group is only onefifth of the control group, not to mention that the white sugar groups average weight increase is 20 times greater than the weight increase of the honey group. Thus, even though the calories in honey per 100 grams is only around 80 grams less than the calories in white sugar and brown sugar, it doesnt cause a huge effect on weight gaining, in fact, compare to the control group honey may server as a sweetener to help losing weight.

3.2 The efficacy of sugars on mice between male and female

Hypothesis: there will be difference between male and female, and the female mice will be affected more than the the male mice.
The weight change of the mice(g0.05g)

The difference of the weight change between female and male (Control Group)
8 6 4 2 0 -2 -4 -6 1 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 Time (Day0.5s

Figure 7 The difference of the weight change between female and male (Control Group) Control group: The female and male has a significant change from day 8 (p-value: 0.000951<0.05) which is a significant statistic data to indicate that gender does result in a statistically significant influence on the weight change of the mice. One possible reason for that is without the sugar supply, female mice can use the energy in the corn/food more efficiently and result in a greater weight gain than the male mice.

the weight change of the mice(g0.05g)

15 11 8 4 0 -4 -8 1 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 Untitled 1 Time (Day0.5s

Average Change in weight (Female-white sugar) Average Change in weight (Malewhite sugar) Average Change in weight (Female-control) Average Change in weight (Malecontrol)
Figure 8 The difference of the weight change between female and male (White Sugar) White sugar: The female and male has a significant change on day 8 (p-value: 0.00612<0.05) which indicates that gender results in a significant change on the weight change of the mice when intaking white sugar. The female mice were more influenced by the sugar intake and can gain more weight than the male mice. In the first half of the experiment, there was no significant change between the female mice in control and white sugar group, on the contrary, the p-value for the male mice between the control group and white sugar group on day 12 is 0.0035 < 0.05, therefore indicates the male can utilize the sugar better. In the second half, both the female and male can utilize the white sugar, possibly because the female started to get used to the daily white sugar intake.

the weight change of the mice(g0.05g)

15 11 8 4 0 -4 -8 1 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 Time (Day0.5s

Average Change in weight (Female-brown sguar) Average Change in weight (Male-brown sugar) Average Change in weight (Female-control) Average Change in weight (Malecontrol)
Figure 9 The difference of the weight change between female and male (Brown Sugar) Brown Sugar The female and male has a significant change on day 4 (p-value: 0.0026<0.05) which indicates that gender results in a significant change on the weight change of the mice when intaking brown sugar, possible reason is that the female can utilize the energy in the sugar better and prevent from huge weight loss. However, from the t-test there is no huge difference between the male and female in both the control and brown sugar group. Compare to white sugar group, the brown sugar didnt help the male to utilize the energy in sugar.

The weight change of the mice(g0.05g)

8 6 4 2 0 -2 -4 -6 1 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 Time (Day0.5s

Average Change in weight (Femalemotosada sugar) Average Change in weight (Male-motosada sugar) Average Change in weight (Female-control) Average Change in weight (Malecontrol)
Figure 10 The difference of the weight change between female and male (Motosada Sugar) Motosada Sugar: The initial drop in the body weight in both male and female is possibly because the mice were not used to the new diet. By using the t-test, the p-value on Day 8 (0.0025<0.05), Day 12 (0.028<0.05) and Day 20 (0.038<0.05), therefore between day 4~24 there is a difference between the male and female on utilizing the sugar. For the male group, on day 20, the rate of utilization of motosada sugar increased significantly compare to the control group. For the female group, when using motosada sugar, the rate of weight gain for female decreased a lot compare to white and brown sugar group.

the weight change of the mice(g0.05g)

8 6 4 2 0 -2 -4 -6 1 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 Untitled 1 Time (Day0.5s

Average Change in weight (Female-honey) Average Change in weight (Male-honey) Average Change in weight (Female-control) Average Change in weight (Malecontrol)
Figure 11 The difference of the weight change between female and male (Motosada Sugar) Honey: With the t-test, there is no significant difference between the male and female. When comparing to the control group, male shows relatively no difference, while female shows a huge decrease of utilizing honey.

Chapter 4 Conclusion and evaluation

4.1 Conclusion
The trend of the weight of the laboratory mice There is an increasing trend in the average weight of the mice. The efficacy of different kinds of sugars Different kinds of sugars have different efficacies on weight gaining. According to the experiment, white sugar and brown sugar have the most effect on weight gaining. While the same amount of motosada sugar will not result in a significant rise in the body weight and its

effect is steady and slow. Honey on the other hand causes a minor rise in the weight of the mice, the conjecture stated in the theoretic basis that honey can increase the bodys metabolism and result in a weight loss has been proved to be true. The ranking for the efficacy of sugars from high efficacy to low efficacy is No.1 white sugar, No.2 brown sugar, No.3 motosada sugar and No.4 honey. Comparison between male and female: Female and male mice react to the sugar intake differently. While comparing to all the sugar groups, the best choice sequence for male is: white sugar, brown sugar, motosada sugar. The best choice for utilization for female is also: white sugar, brown sugar, motosada sugar

4.2 Evaluation
1. Limitations The experiment was conducted at school, due to the limitations such as the lab

room capacity and access to equipments. The most significant limitation in this experiment is that small numbers (30) of samples were investigated. Improvement: In order to get a more convincing and conclusive conclusion, more samples should be collected. Ideally, when conducting an animal experiment, each group should contain at least 12 mice, which will help preventing a wide range of deviation in the data set. When, if possible, conducting another animal lab, the number of sample should also be considered carefully. The effect of sugar intake on weight gain is a long term process, however the duration of this lab was only 40 days, therefore the result and the conclusion we get now were only for this 40-day-long trial. The conclusion we get might not be able to apply to what happened after 40 days. Improvement: In order to get a more comprehensive conclusion for this lab, the length of the lab should be extended and more data should be collected. 2. Uncertainty Because this experiment was conducted on living animals, there are many factors which are hard to control. It is possible that certain groups of mice reflected greatly to the sugar intake,

while others took a relatively long time to show the effect of the sugar intake. The amount of activities a mouse did daily was also an important factor on determining the result of the lab, for example the physical exertion of male mice might be higher than the female, since the male mice tend to climb the cages and hang themselves upside down on the cages more often. Improvements: it is very necessary to repeat the experiment for several times in order to find a more convincing conclusion on the effect of sugar on mice.

Chapter 5 Discussion
5.1 Application on human: Because the similarities between mouse and human genes range from about 70% to 90%, with an average of 85% similarity but a lot of variation from gene to gene (e.g., some mouse and human gene products are almost identical, while others are nearly unrecognizable as close relatives).15 Therefore the efficacies of different kinds of sugars on weight gaining of the mice suggest that there may be some valuable indications on the effect of sugar intake and how to consume sugar in humans daily life. Since the white sugar and the brown sugar can cause significant rise in body weight, people who are concerning about their body weight fluctuation might consider to limit the intake of white sugar and brown sugar in their daily life or they could replace white sugar and brown sugar with motosada sugar or honey. Also, it could be considered possible that human can use honey as a kind of sugar that help prevent significant weight gain and can lead to further weight loss. 5.2 The difference between male and female In real life, we often find that it is very easy to get fat for girls or women, the experiment also showed the similar result. According to the lab result, it seems that the female mice are more capable of utilizing the energy of the sugar more efficiently and store them in their bodies thus lead to a weight gain, one possible reason for that is that the male mice have more muscle and

15Functional

and Comparative Genomics Fact Sheet http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/faq/ compgen.shtml (Last opened: Feb.25th, 2013)

higher metabolisms than female. 16 On average, women's total energy expenditure which is the number of calories burned for metabolic needs, including breathing, blood circulation, digestion and physical activity, is around 5 to 10 percent lower than men's.17 Therefore, the sugar can have a more straightforward effect on womens body weight. If a woman wants to control her body weight it is suggested to avoid the sugars especially the white sugar and brown sugar since they will have a relatively big influence on the weight change of a woman.

16

Gender difference in Metabolism, Biological differences between men and women affect metabolism and weight loss. Article By: The Weight Watchers Research Department http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/art/ index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=35431&sc=801 (Last opened: Feb. 27.2013)
17

Ferraro R, Lillioja S, Fontvieille AM, Rising R, Bogardus C, Ravussin E. Lower sedentary metabolic rate in women compared with men. J Clin Invest. 1992 Sep;90(3):780-4.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1522233? dopt=Abstract (Last opened: Feb.27.2013)

Bibliography
Intake of sugar-sweetened beverages and weight gain: a systematic review: http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/84/2/274.full (Last opened: Feb.27.2013) Biomed Environ Sci, 2012; 25(2):125-132 Report on Childhood Obesity in China (9): Sugar-sweetened Beverages Consumption and Obesity 6 most popular artificial sweeteners http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/healthy-eating/6-mostpopular-artificial-sweeteners.html#b (Last opened: Feb.27.2013) Sugar effects on your health http://www.healingdaily.com/detoxification-diet/sugar.htm (Last opened: Feb. 27.2013) Alan Damon, Randy McGonegal, Partricia Tosto, William Ward, Pearson Baccalaureate Standard Level Biology developed specifically for the IB Diploma, Pearson Education Limited, 2007 Paul Urban, David Martin, Robert, Sandra, Michael Haese, Mark Humphries, Mathematics for the international student HL(core), second edition, Haese & Harris Publications 2008 Alexander A. Bachmanov, Gary K. Beauchamp, Danielle R. Reed, Michael G. Tordoff Food Intake, Water Intake, and Drinking Spout Side Preference of 28 Mouse Strains, Published by March 10. 2006 Ferraro R, Lillioja S, Fontvieille AM, Rising R, Bogardus C, Ravussin E. Lower sedentary metabolic rate in women compared with men. J Clin Invest. 1992 Sep;90(3):780-4.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/ 1522233?dopt=Abstract (Last opened: Feb.27.2013) Functional and Comparative Genomics Fact Sheet http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/ faq/compgen.shtml (Last opened: Feb.25th, 2013) Gender difference in Metabolism, Biological differences between men and women affect metabolism and weight loss. Article By: The Weight Watchers Research Department http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/ art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=35431&sc=801 (Last opened: Feb. 27.2013)

Appendix:
Statistic Analysis
In this paper, the statical analysis used following equations: Mean: the central tendency of the data18 =

!x
n

n : The number of the samples

! x : the sum of all the samples

Standard Deviation: the measure of how the individual observations of a data set are spread out around the mean 19

Sn =

" (x ! x)
i =1 i

n : The number of the sample x : The mean of the sample

T-test: significant difference between two data sets 20

t=

x1 ! x2
2 s12 s2 + n1 n2

x1 : The mean of the first set of data

18 Alan

Damon, Randy McGonegal, Partricia Tosto, William Ward, Pearson Baccalaureate Standard Level Biology developed specifically for the IB Diploma, Page 3~4, Pearson Education Limited, 2007
19

Paul Urban, David Martin, Robert, Sandra, Michael Haese, Mark Humphries, Mathematics for the international student HL(core), second edition, P 512, Haese & Harris Publications 2008
20 Alan

Damon, Randy McGonegal, Partricia Tosto, William Ward, Pearson Baccalaureate Standard Level Biology developed specifically for the IB Diploma, Page 7, Pearson Education Limited, 2007

x2 : The mean of the second set of data n1 : The number of the first sample n2 : The number of the second sample S1 : The standard deviation of the first set of data S2 : The standard deviation of the second set of data

Raw Data:
The weight of the mice during the experiment (Day 1)
Group No. Type of sugar Gender Weight of mouse 1 (0.05g) Weight of mouse 2 (0.05g) Weight of mouse 3 (0.05g)

Water White sugar Brown sugar

Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male

27.1 29.9 18.8 26.6 24.6 23.6 27.6 26.2 28.8 30.1

34.4 27.7 31.5 24.8 26.3 27.3 29.2 29.9 29.1 30.2

37.2 29.3 23.9 29.2 22.4 28.3 30.7 29.0 26.4 23.4

Motosada sugar Honey

The weight of the mice during the experiment (Day 4)

Weight of mouse 1 (0.05g) Weight of mouse 2 (0.05g) Weight of mouse 3 (0.05g)

Group No.

Type of sugar

Gender

Water

Female Male

26.9 28.5 19.2 26.7 23.7 22.5 26.3 22.9 26.4 26.2

33.4 26.8 31.3 26.0 26.4 25.8 26.6 26.4 26.8 28.2

36.9 27.0 24.3 29.2 22.5 26.9 26.8 24.4 25.5 22.5

White sugar

Female Male

Brown sugar

Female Male

Motosada sugar

Female Male Female Male

Honey

The weight of the mice during the experiment (Day 8)

Group No. Type of sugar Gender Weight of mouse 1 (0.05g) Weight of mouse 2 (0.05g) Weight of mouse 3 (0.05g)

Water White sugar Brown sugar

Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male

27.2 26.5 19.2 24.8 22.5 25.7 29.3 23.0 27.2 24.6

35.8 25.0 31.6 22.5 25.3 25.0 31.8 26.4 28.4 26.6

38.3 25.8 25.0 28.0 24.1 26.2 31.0 28.4 25.0 23.3

Motosada sugar Honey

The weight of the mice during the experiment (Day 12)

Group No. Type of sugar Gender Weight of mouse 1 (0.05g) Weight of mouse 2 (0.05g) Weight of mouse 3 (0.05g)

Water

Female Male

28.0 26.5 20.2 25.5 23.0 25.3 28.8 24.2 27.6 25.8

36.2 25.2 32.1 23.8 25.5 25.3 32.1 28.0 29.0 27.6

38.7 26.4 25.3 27.8 24.1 26.0 32.0 29.2 25.5 22.3

White sugar

Female Male

Brown sugar

Female Male

Motosada sugar Male Female Honey Male

Female

The weight of the mice during the experiment (Day 16)

Group No. Type of sugar Gender Weight of mouse 1 (0.05g) Weight of mouse 2 (0.05g) Weight of mouse 3 (0.05g)

Water

Female Male

30.3 28.4 21.5 25.6 25.7 25.7 29.3 25.0 27.9 27.9

42.0 27.1 36.4 23.6 28.7 28.7 31.8 29.3 29.3 28.2

41.2 28.3 27.9 30.3 26.2 26.2 31.5 30.8 26.0 22.8

White sugar

Female Male

Brown sugar

Female Male

Motosada sugar

Female Male Female Male

Honey

The weight of the mice during the experiment (Day 20)

Group No. Type of sugar Gender Weight of mouse 1 (0.05g) Weight of mouse 2 (0.05g) Weight of mouse 3 (0.05g)

Water

Female Male

28.3 26.7 22.4 25.0 27.0 25.8 30.4 25.0 28.0 27.7

40.6 25.8 35.5 24.0 29.1 26.9 32.4 29.8 29.3 28.2

41.0 26.7 28.2 29.2 27.3 26.7 32.3 30.2 25.8 22.6

White sugar

Female Male

Brown sugar

Female Male

Motosada sugar

Female Male

Honey

Female Male

The weight of the mice during the experiment (Day 24)

Group No. Type of sugar Gender Weight of mouse 1 (0.05g) Weight of mouse 2 (0.05g) Weight of mouse 3 (0.05g)

Water

Female Male

29.9 27.2 24.1 25.8 27.6 26.6 29.9 27.0 28.6 28.1

41.7 27.4 37.4 25.0 30.0 27.0 32.2 30.8 29.4 30.1

41.0 28.2 28.8 30.2 29.4 26.8 31.5 32.5 26.6 23.6

White sugar

Female Male

Brown sugar

Female Male

Motosada sugar

Female Male

Honey

Female Male

The weight of the mice during the experiment (Day 28)

Group No. Type of sugar Gender Weight of mouse 1 (0.05g) Weight of mouse 2 (0.05g) Weight of mouse 3 (0.05g)

Water

Female Male

30.7 27.6 25.8 28.4 28.0 28.2 30.4 28.0 27.4 26.8

40.1 26.5 38.2 27.6 31.8 29.0 32.8 30.6 30.0 32.4

43.9 29.8 30.0 31.5 30.2 28.4 32.0 32.0 27.9 25.2

White sugar

Female Male

Brown sugar

Female Male

Motosada sugar

Female Male

Honey

Female Male

The weight of the mice during the experiment (Day 32)

Group No. Type of sugar Gender Weight of mouse 1 (0.05g) Weight of mouse 2 (0.05g) Weight of mouse 3 (0.05g)

Water

Female Male

30.2 31.0 29.5 33.9 30.5 32.3 31.1 28.7 28.0 27.2

40.2 26.3 39.5 30.3 34.0 30.9 31.3 32.4 31.5 35.6

42.6 33.6 31.8 33.9 33.2 32.6 32.6 32.5 28.8 27.8

White sugar

Female Male

Brown sugar

Female Male

Motosada sugar

Female Male

Honey

Female Male

The weight of the mice during the experiment (Day 36)

Group No. Type of sugar Gender Weight of mouse 1 (0.05g) Weight of mouse 2 (0.05g) Weight of mouse 3 (0.05g)

Water

Female Male

31.2 28.5 27.9 30.3 26.6 28.2 31.4 28.0 27.6 26.4

39.2 28.9 39.2 28.5 32.2 27.5 31.9 31.6 31.3 33.5

42.9 31.4 30.0 31.8 30.0 28.4 32.3 32.5 27.2 24.4

White sugar

Female Male

Brown sugar

Female Male

Motosada sugar

Female Male

Honey

Female Male

The weight of the mice during the experiment (Day 40)

Group No. Type of sugar Gender Weight of mouse 1 (0.05g) Weight of mouse 2 (0.05g) Weight of mouse 3 (0.05g)

Water

Female Male

32.9 28.2 28.9 31.2 28.8 29.3 31.3 27.3 27.7 25.6

40.7 30.3 40.9 30.0 32.5 29.3 32.2 31.6 31.6 31.5

40.8 24.4 30.5 32.2 31.7 29.4 32.1 32.5 28.1 25.4

White sugar

Female Male

Brown sugar

Female Male

Motosada sugar

Female Male

Honey

Female Male